1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to media playback systems and software. More specifically, the invention relates to a media playback unit and techniques for managing the playback of ads or other individually identified segments in a media file using a user license.
2. Description of the Related Art
Presently, if a user wants to skip through advertisements, commercials, previews, and the like (called “ads” hereafter, but should be understood to apply to any individually identifiable content segments) while watching a media file on a personal video recorder (PVR or DVR), such as a TV show or movie, they may be able to by physically pressing a button on a remote control to either fast forward through the ads (also referred to as commercials) or skip through the ad, for example, by skipping through in 30 or 60 second intervals. In both cases, the user is inconvenienced because he or she is required to be proactive by manually pressing a button and, while doing so, watch the screen to ensure that the fast forwarding or skipping stops when the actual TV show or movie begins. Additionally, the resulting uncertainty about whether the user has watched an ad hurts the ability of the service provider to correctly set the price of ad placement into the content.
Currently there are ways to identify the location of ads and to mark individual ads with one or more “usage constraints.” These include “No-Skip” which prevents the user or viewer from fast-forwarding through ads or from manually skipping ads. For example, the Marlin Specification entitled Dynamic Media Zones (DMZ) describes such methods in an abstract and generic manner. The Marlin DMZ specification describes a mechanism for having types of zones in a media presentation. This specification describes attributes representing constraints that a media player application must obey when playing back the content, such as advertisement zones that must not be skipped, or a warning screen that must be viewed before the rest of the presentation can be viewed. The DMZ specification is based on technology disclosed in Intertrust Technologies, Inc.'s patent application Ser. No. 12/178,543. The Intertrust patent application focuses on forced play of ads on a per-ad rights basis (referred to as “No-Skip”). The absence of forced play only allows the user to manually fast-forward through ads, that is, where a user must press a button or perform some action to bypass the ad. There is no mention or method for software-controlled auto-skipping of ads.